LCC approves statutory joint committees, trims or defers several interim meeting requests

The Legislative Coordinating Council approved a substitute motion to permit statutory joint committees to meet as requested, cut the education funding task force to two days and deferred other special or standing committee requests for further study.

Shirley Marorrow of Legislative Research presented a packet listing requested interim committee meeting days, noting that some letters and draft requests were not yet in the packet and that a few requests lacked appointment or membership details. Marorrow said the packet includes statutory joint committees, special standing committees and other requests; she flagged items tied to appropriations language that did not specify membership or appointment details.

Members questioned the overall number of interim days requested. "Typically we run somewhere around 70 and last year was a huge year," one member said; research noted 101 days already requested for the current year, not including incoming letters. Senator Blazy and others said they were concerned the number of days has grown and urged caution because interim meetings carry per-diem and salary costs.

Senator Blazy offered a substitute motion to approve the statutory joint committees and to further evaluate special and standing committee requests; the motion also reduced the education funding task force allocation to two days pending a more formal plan. The substitute motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. Members agreed to circulate all incoming committee request letters to the full LCC and to revisit remaining special/standing requests at the next LCC meeting.

Next steps: staff will distribute outstanding letters and draft requests to all members and return to the council for further action on deferred committee requests.